Apple 27" LED Cinema Display

After playing with this baby I wanted to get up some screenshots of a really good screen , maybe it aint got 120 hz going for it , but it sure got plenty of detail at 2560 x 1440
" notes : if you have a tn these shots probably wont look as good to you when viewed ;) "
you will see a lamp behind me , which i realized , and moved after photos ,becuase man i love glossy , but damn Apple you took it to a mirror level , so wonder matte people talk . . glossy with polarizers don't reflect like this at all :) but now is all good place lamp in front of desk . screen back to greatness , took all with a high quality Sony Camera


my rig setup to push this resolution hungry bastard . . .
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Desktop HQ wallpapers
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Game Shots at 2560 x 1440 HQ
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Awesome setup man! Did you have any problems setting it up? I mean was it just hook up to display port and you were good to go? And you can control the brightness and enter the bios and see the boot screen as well?
 
zod96 said:
Awesome setup man! Did you have any problems setting it up? I mean was it just hook up to display port and you were good to go? And you can control the brightness and enter the bios and see the boot screen as well?
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Thanks Man , I like it alot , well actually setting up was a bit of learning experience , yes its plug and play , but brightness work in two stages , one is the backlight which works separate from your color controls in your video card and use apple control panel with some fixes , setting of the backlight comes at 50 percent from factory , you need it to be at least up to 60 65 percent to get a gamma of 2.2 and get 6500k on the dot , I made a apple color profile with my Eye-One Display 2 . . . there is no osd , you can use you video card color property but man the screen is so off at beginning i highly recommend a color-meter or you can get a copy of my profile ;) . . . you see the boot screen perfect, works like a normal screen in that aspect
 
zod96 said:
Yeah I may just go for the U2711 instead....
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just keep in mind the AG and 30ms game lag cause of the scaling on that screen is very harsh , I would recommend a dell u2312 , got the best of everything , actually i would say it beats the apple cause of price vs performance is minus 4 inches worth 700 on your pocket , im already looking for my apple receipt lol :D
 
How is the input lag on the Apple? I use Vysnc when I game
 
zod96 said:
How is the input lag on the Apple? I use Vysnc when I game
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Well it actually same screen as Hazro HZ27WC , which also doesn't use a scalling osd
I put a diagram here of lag time , the one on the bottom with apple is incorrect tft central copied it from anandtech , and it wasn't lag time it was response time . . so your looking at 8ms which is not bad at all

lagtime.jpg
 
I may try it then. But the other problem is my setup does not have a display port only DVI. So I would have to get another card. And when you say you need the apple control panel to change your settings what is that exactly? BTW thanks for all the help...
 
zod96 said:
I may try it then. But the other problem is my setup does not have a display port only DVI. So I would have to get another card. And when you say you need the apple control panel to change your settings what is that exactly? BTW thanks for all the help...
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1.yea you have to get a atlona adapter , or just change up you video card for a updated card with mini display port , with this screen you'll need a bit of power i would say a 7950 would do great
2. apple control panel is a software for apple computer but there a file here somewhere that works on windows , just take a little work around , but after that your ready to go

no problem man , trust me it is a great screen , get the apple refurb , i got mine 85o brand new not one pixel missing and uniformity like no ips ive never seen , feel like im on a plasma ,
 
I've just gotten this Apple in and I can safely say it is the best LCD display I've ever used. And I've used just about all of them.

Just sent back a Samsung 27" 850D PLS screen which I feel is inferior.
 
So basically if I do the following:

1. Buy a video card with Display Port
2. Download the Control Panel Applet

I will be good to go without a problem? Yeah I was looking at getting a 7970 or 7950 but of course they are sold out everywhere...
 
Ya, I've got the brightness application working within a few minutes following the instructions previously posted.
 
Can you use the new thunderbolt 27 inch or does it have to be the old version?
 
Yes thunderbolt does not work with mini-DP. Apple still sells the 27" cinema display with the exact same panel for this reason.
 
zod96 said:
I just hope this applet thing is easy to do :)
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It's pretty easy man, it's just a simple program file. Took me about 30 seconds to get it working with a shortcut using the steps provided above by _cide. If you get a mini-DP graphics card, using the ACD27" on a PC is really no different than using it on a Mac. I absolutely love this display, and if you want a 27" WQHD monitor that is glossy/semi-glossy,
there really is no PC monitor that can compare, aside from the Samsung S27A970 which is a future product with no solid release date.
 
Alright sounds easier enough. Now to find a local Frys that has it. I tried my Local one here in Fremont and they only have the new Thunderbolt one, not the old. I called a few places same thing, only the new one not the old one....
 
Also I just want to make sure. If I go with a video card that has display port, I do not need to buy any kind of adapter correct? Its only if I use DVI that I will need the adapter correct? And if I were to buy the adapter in store at Frys which one should I get?
 
Does the 27" ACD use PWM for backlight dimming?

I use 27" iMacs (iMac 12,2 model) at school and they do not appear to use PWM, based on the wave test as well as some testing with a camera. I am hoping the 27" ACD is the same, as the iMac is one of the few newish monitors I can use without eye strain.

Thanks!
 
hey zod96 me are one of us will pass you a profile , no lcd is the same they will tell you but mostly youll be off maybe under 5% , ill put up my settings later with a profile download i hope other here do same
 
But again. If I go with a video card with a mini display port I will not need ANY adapter to use the monitor correct?
 
zod96 said:
But again. If I go with a video card with a mini display port I will not need ANY adapter to use the monitor correct?
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" If I go with a video card with a mini display port I will not need ANY adapter to use"

" will be better than a apple pc , i love the no more power button , set up screen off 10 min or whatever you like . . . youlll like
 
zod96 said:
I just hope this applet thing is easy to do :)
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Apple club gots your back , it will be better , you just bypassed a screen processor and told your mega video card to handle business scaling and all . . . . by the way that the way it should be for speed. " um 8ms lag you screen has no processing "
 
no you can use ahci using the steps I re-posted from Cide several times in the last 20 posts on this thread..

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038316669&postcount=710


cide_ said:
I actually found a better way to get the AppleControlPanel for Brightness to work in Windows 7.
#1) Right Click on "Computer" -> Select "Manage" and in the users area create a user account called: Test (with password: Test) -> Not an admin account!

#2) You have to create a shortcut to the EXE itself, and in the shortcut box change the part that points to the EXE itself (Not the 'Start In" area) Change to: "C:\Windows\System32\runas.exe /user:test C:\AppleControlPanel.exe" (Or whatever/whereever your ControlPanel filename is...If shortcut is in the same folder as Exe you do not need to enter a harddisk or filepath before AppleControlPanel.exe)

Before creating shortcut like this I was getting the Startup Error every time I tried to control brightness, And there was no way I was going to depreciate my Win7 install with unneeded bootcamp pollution. BTW: My disk drives run in AHCI mode and theres no chance I'll be changing that to IDE to make something run right :)
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BTW: My disk drives run in AHCI mode and theres no chance I'll be changing that to IDE to make something run right :)
.....

elvn said:
This link seems to have a working download of the 64bit version of the brightness exe from bootcamp that is for 64bit windows. The 32 bit download is missing.

http://www.facingblend.com/blog/?p=925

The old links on this actual [H] thread we are on are all dead too I think.
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zod96 said:
Also I just want to make sure. If I go with a video card that has display port, I do not need to buy any kind of adapter correct? Its only if I use DVI that I will need the adapter correct? And if I were to buy the adapter in store at Frys which one should I get?
Click to expand...

DVI video cards require the $99 (from TigerDirect) Atlona AT-DP400 converter which can be finicky regarding the BIOS and Windows loading screen. DisplayPort video cards require a hassle free $15 DP to mini-DP adapter cable (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200602) and the BIOS and Windows loading screens display fine. mini-DP video cards are a direct connection exactly like a Mac. Any external device such as a Cable Box, TiVo, XBOX360, Playstation 3, etc. requires an HDMI to mini-DP converter such as the Atlona AT-HD620.
 
I've actually decided not to get it. Its $1000, then on top of that I would have to upgrade my video card setup to something like crossfire 7950 which is another $1000. And I also forgot my eye sight is not the best. And at that high res everything is going to look like I need a microscope to see it. I think I may be getting the Samsung S27A650D 27 inch LED MVA panel. Its 1920x1080 $400 and will work with my existing video card setup. And it does not have that AG aggressive coating like the Dell's do...
 
zod96 said:
I've actually decided not to get it. Its $1000, then on top of that I would have to upgrade my video card setup to something like crossfire 7950 which is another $1000. And I also forgot my eye sight is not the best. And at that high res everything is going to look like I need a microscope to see it. I think I may be getting the Samsung S27A650D 27 inch LED MVA panel. Its 1920x1080 $400 and will work with my existing video card setup. And it does not have that AG aggressive coating like the Dell's do...
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well actually 1 7970 would easily run the screen , most peopl score on it 12000 3dmark which surpasses 6970 in crossfire . .
but yes the text is the smallest ive ever seen at time bugs me a lil . so the screen your picking would be much better in that sense , and would have excellent blacks , but would be a horrible for games , and the backlight bleed is a dealbreaker
 
i have the dell U2312H and its awesome for gaming it really does have like 2ms lag
i noticed the improvement instantly. I want to upgrade to a bigger screen size like 27"
is the dell ultra sharp 27 " better than the apple cinema?


btw iam using display port currently with my 6970 crossfire setup
 
This Apple is a great display. Below is a comparison with a FW900 if anyone is interested.


The best LCD (my opinion of course) Apple 27" Cinema Display versus the best CRT FW900. Both are color calibrated.


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Which picture do you guys like more? The Apple is a brilliant LCD but the FW900 does quite well compared.

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As for motion, here are two Samsung 120Hz panels flanking the FW900 in Eyefinity playing Skyrim "AFK camera spinning". The FW900 stays very clear and just look at the side monitors. FW900 will appear slightly darker due to the nature of the way it refreshes and camera capture.
 
The sizes look weird in the pics that contain both the ACD and the fw900, but its prob just distance/perspective.
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I'm glad you like your ACD and your fw900. .. I totally agree they are great. Your rep and experience with so many different monitors and setups supports what everyone has been saying about each (ACD and fw900) in their respective threads.
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I've been running a few different display types for years in order to get the best of the tradeoffs, and that hasn't changed. There are too many tradeoffs for me to be satisfied with just one type.
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. Although I have other monitor setups in mind for gaming, the ACD is staying at my desk more most everything else desktop/app related. The ACD is best for the size and real-estate, ppi, color, uniformity (and geometry as well as crispness vs crt). The imagery on the ACD is gorgeous. The FW900 are best for motion on a widescreen - nothing else is even close. They also have the benefit of no native resolution, and have good color and decent black levels. For black levels on non-crt, VA lcd or a plasma are best, but those are for TV's imo, and not for games. So there are really different several different tradeoffs imo, some more important than others, and those priorities may be different for different people.

--very high rez/ppi + resulting large desktop real-estate and crisp imagery
-- larger size ( 27" - 30" at normal desk distances)
-- geometry and crispness, "solidity" vs eye fatigue/strain
-- color quality + brightness uniformity across the panel.

-- crisp, clear, high speed motion without smearing or blurring

-- black levels + detail in blacks.

-- lack of bulk and "footprint", modularity/mounting
-- lack of native resolution
-- simplicity of setup/calibration/tweaking
-- longevity, availability
-- price

..I'll go into the fw900 setup stuff more in the fw900 thread.
 
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Ya the Apple definitely has the size/real estate over the FW900. The FW900 is just closer to the camera and the Apple image has it's sides cut off to mirror the FW900 16:10 image makes it appear a little smaller.
 
I've already compared the 120Hz Samsung's vs the Apple, with the Apple having more motion blur as to be expected. It basically boils down to more blur versus higher resolution between the two as they are both excellent screens.
 
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